Rather
strangely, the write-up of my recent Douro trip begins at a dinner in
London. It feels slightly odd starting here, but this event was the
catalyst for my trip a couple of weeks later.

I’ve been following
the striking table wines from Dirk Niepoort with some interest over
the last couple of years, and so I was glad that Danny Cameron (of
Raymond Reynolds, the UK importers) invited me to a winemaker’s
dinner with Dirk in the week of the London trade fair. I was even more
pleased when I found out that Danny had seated me next to Dirk, which
gave me an ideal chance to get to understand what he is trying to do
with his wines.

Straight away, I asked what his winemaking philosophy was.
‘I like wines with extremes’, he explained. ‘As rich and tannic
as possible, but they have to have harmony’. So
what does he like to drink at home? This is always a revealing question. For
whites, he prefers Mosel Riesling (Haag, Loosen and Willi Schaefer are
mentioned) and white Burgundy. He likes Champagne, too. And reds?
‘Red Burgundy, when it is very good, is the best wine in the
world’.

We began tasting with Dirk’s whites. White wines are rare
in the Douro. The problem is that it’s simply just too hot to grow
white grapes successfully in most parts of the region. However, since
1995 Dirk has fashioned a very successful white Redoma by using grapes
grown in vineyards over 400 m in altitude, which helps preserve
acidity. The Reserva is a selection of the finest barrels, aged for
longer in mostly new oak.

Redoma
Branco 2000Barrel fermented and aged in 50% new
oak for 13 months. Quite a forward spicy nose with some lemony
complexity and a bit of classy toasty oak. Rich textured palate shows
some lovely herby, lemony fruit and nice minerally acid structure. A
delicious full flavoured white. Very good/excellent

Redoma Branco Reserva 2000Barrel fermented and aged for 18 months in 80% new oak. The rich
toasty nose is savoury with a lemony, mineral edge. Powerful, rich
savoury palate with lots of herby flavour. Despite its considerable
size and concentration, there’s still some elegance here. Lots of
flavour, although the oak is currently quite prominent. Very
good/excellent

Rosé 2001This is mainly a Saignée wine, but one of the Quinta de Nápoles
vineyards that is susceptible to rot is picked a little early to
increase the acidity. 40% of the wine is barrel fermented. It has a
rich nose with herby strawberry and cherry fruit character. This leads
to a rich, spicy, herby palate with lots of flavour. An unusual,
individual wine. Very good+

There are now four red wines in the Niepoort stable. The top
two, Batuta (first vintage 1999) and Charme (first vintage 2000) will
only ever be made in tiny quantities. Redoma has been around for a
while (the first vintage was 1991, after an experimental wine called
‘Robustus’ was made in 1990) and the style has been evolving since
them until the benchmark year of 1999. This was the vintage that Dirk
took on new winemaker Jorge Serôdio Borges, and he now feels that
he’s finally hit on a style that represents what he wants to achieve
with this wine. Dirk has given Jorge oversight of the fourth wine,
Quinta de Nápoles, and it’s interesting to see the stylistic
differences between this and the Redoma. Dirk says that he had been
looking for someone to work with him for five years, until he found
Jorge. He was looking for someone ‘technically better and
different’, but at the same time someone who would understand him.
Dirk says that he and Jorge have a very good relationship, and he
allows Jorge more-or-less free rein with Nápoles.

[note added
February 2004: Jorge has now left Niepoort and is concentrating on his
own wine, Pintas.]

Quinta de Nápoles 2000Fermented in lagares after destemming, and matured in mostly new
oak barrels. Very deep purple/black colour. There’s an intense,
slightly roasted edge to the deep berry fruit on the nose: the wood is
a little more prominent at this stage than in the Redoma. High acid
palate has rich, taut fruit -- cherry and raspberry with a woody edge.
Very powerful and concentrated with spicy tannins and some wood. Lots
of potential here. Very good/excellent

Redoma 1999From 60 year old north facing vineyards, this is fermented in
stainless steel tanks and then aged in barrel. Very deep coloured,
with a rich, brooding liquorice-edged nose that displays smoky
blackcurrant fruit. The rich, liquoricey, herby palate shows great
concentration and depth, with firm tannins and spicy, herby fruit.
There’s lovely balance despite the size. Quite wonderful. Very
good/excellent

Redoma 2000 (cask sample)Opaque colour. Rich, spicy, quite lifted nose. Concentrated rich,
spicy palate with quite a lot of new wood evident. Very tannic and
primary, this is currently quite hard to assess but shows great
promise for the future. Potentially superb

With Batuta, Dirk’s aim is to make a ‘monster' wine, but
at the same time one that it extremely elegant. Rather enigmatically
he says, ‘I like
wines that are a bit in excess, but always tasting the opposite of
what they are’. In contrast, with Charme his aim is ‘finesse,
finesse, finesse’. Charme is an unusual wine in several respects.
First, it’s made in a slightly surprising way. The grapes are foot
trodden in lagares (large, shallow stone troughs) with the stems, which you’d think would result in
a harsh, tannic wine. But Dirk’s view is that foot-treading with
stems can actually produce elegant wines, and he cites Domaine de la
Romanée Conti as his precedent. ‘It’s very difficult to make wine
with stems’, he says. ‘If they are too green, they result in
aggressive, unbalanced wines with off flavours’. Timing the pressing
correctly is also important. ‘In 2001 we missed pressing of one
lagar by five hours. It won’t be a Charme.’ Interestingly, Dirk
alludes to the fact that his inspiration for Charme comes from Grand Cru red Burgundy. Burgundy-like wines from the Douro? Watch this
space. The other unusual thing about this inaugural Charme is that it
received Pingus-like 200% new oak treatment (malolactic fermentation
in new barrels followed by racking to more new barrels). Dirk say that
this is not an experiment he will repeat, although the result is not
as oaky as you’d think it might be.

Batuta 1999The first vintage of this wine, which is based on grapes from
Niepoort’s own vineyard at Quinta do
Carril. This north facing site
has an average vine age of 60 years, and yields are a miserly 10
hl/ha. Opaque red/purple colour. Very rich spicy herby nose is complex
with tarry, liquoricey notes. The palate is extremely rich and
concentrated, with firm tannins and spicy complexity. Wonderful stuff
with real character. Sensationally good. Excellent

Charme 2000First vintage of this wine, which is fermented on the stems in
lagares. Deep coloured. Spicy, caramelly nose is quite restrained and
classy. There’s a really attractive sweet spiciness to the fruit on
the palate. Some real elegance and harmony here: midweight, but with
quite firm tannins. The stems give a tiny bit of structure: a ‘feel
of acidity’. Lovely and quite different to the other reds here. Very
good/excellent

Batuta 2000 (cask sample)Youthful at the moment. Hugely concentrated, rich, spicy and very
tannic, with a roasted edge. A massive wine with real class.
Sensational potential, but very difficult to assess properly in this
youthful state.

Next,
a real treat. I had several glasses of this...

1970 Niepoort Vintage PortLovely rich, spicy Port which shows great balance, the lively
acidity underpinning the fruit. Great character here. Deep coloured
with some complex caramel and toffee notes. Still some tannic
structure. Excellent

It was getting late and a number of people had already left.
But more was to come. To the remnant, Dirk poured his three top 2000
ports blind, and invited comments.

Vintage 2000Opaque colour. Tremendous liqouricey, spicy nose. Very deep and
dense: this is a massive wine with sweet, rich fruit and firm, spicy
tannins. Deep and concentrated, with huge structure. Excellent (this
was my favourite, but surprisingly not the group’s)

Passadouro 2000More herbal and caramel edged nose. Very herby palate which is
rich, rounded and expressive with some caramel character. Very
good/excellent

Secundum 2000Opaque colour. Spicy, herbal nose with a vanilla edge. Very
concentrated, with some tannin. Quite expressive and rich. Lovely.
Very good/excellent

By this stage I was full (we
hadn’t been spitting). I very quickly warmed to Dirk, and his
passionate approach, always seeking to do better and push back the
boundaries further. But this isn’t random experimentation: he seems
to have a clear idea of where he wants to go. These truly are
extraordinary wines. During the course of the evening, Dirk invited me
to visit the Douro and experience first hand some of the exciting
developments currently taking place. It’s not in my nature to
decline such an invitation…